Off-Site Rule

The Off-Site Rule was promulgated on September 22, 1993 (58 FR 49200). The regulatory citation is 40 CFR 300.440. It requires that CERCLA wastes may only be placed in a facility operating in compliance with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) or other applicable Federal or State requirements.

Section 121(d)(3) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, or "Superfund") applies to any CERCLA response action involving the off-site transfer of any hazardous substance, or pollutant or contaminant (CERCLA wastes). This section of the statute is interpreted in the Off-Site Rule (OSR), published in the National Contingency Plan (NCP), at 40 CFR 300.440. The purpose of the OSR is to avoid having CERCLA wastes from response actions authorized or funded under CERCLA contribute to present or future environmental problems by directing these wastes to management units determined to be environmentally sound.

The OSR establishes the criteria and procedures for determining whether facilities are acceptable for the receipt of CERCLA wastes from response actions authorized or funded under CERCLA. The OSR establishes compliance criteria and release criteria, and establishes a process for determining whether facilities are acceptable based on those criteria. The OSR also establishes procedures for notification of unacceptability, reconsideration of unacceptability determinations, and re-evaluation of unacceptability determinations.

For more information on the Off-Site Rule, please contact the appropriate Regional Off-Site Contact (ROC) listed in the following table:

Important Note:

When requesting information about one or more facilities please include the following information in your request:

1. the name of the facility or facilities to which the waste may be sent,
2. its EPA ID number(s) or other unique identifying number(s),
3. the city and state in which each potential receiving facility is located,
4. the site from which the waste is to be sent (including the CERCLA ID if applicable),
5. the type of waste or wastes to be shipped,
6. the amount for each waste to be sent, and
7. when the waste is to be shipped.

The ID number can be important since some offsite facilities are located in the same city with similar or nearly identical names.

Persons making requests for the offsite status of one or more facilities should be aware that, while all requests will be processed as quickly as possible, as much as a week or more may be required to respond. Regional Off-Site Contacts consult with State inspectors about facilities, and perform other research in order to obtain necessary information about the facility(ies) in question. Additionally, the Regional Off-Site Contact and/or the State counterpart may be on travel. Therefore, requestors should plan the timing of their offsite waste shipments accordingly. Requests by e-mail are recommended.